2022 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP

Among the New York elite, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP has defined itself as the go-to firm for hedge funds and their ilk. While this practice focus translates into double-digit profits and aggressive growth during boom years, the firm has grown organically over the years.

Hedging Their Niche

Schulte was founded in 1969 by a group of young BigLaw associates—most from Cleary and Fried Frank—who wanted to escape the traditional BigLaw model. The firm found its place by working in areas that were mostly ignored by the big firms, like trusts and estates and the burgeoning field of hedge fund law, and soon was attracting clients like the Rockefeller and Lehman families. Bill Zabel—who had written the winning brief in the landmark Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia on behalf of the ACLU—focused on estate and tax planning and is still the head of the firm’s Individual Client Services Group today. 

Financial Services Focus

Schulte Roth & Zabel today primarily advises clients in the financial services industry, with a particular emphasis on representing investment management firms. Relatively narrow in practice scope by BigLaw standards, Schulte trains its focus on investment management, corporate and transactional matters, and securities litigation—most notably—providing a one-stop shop for all the legal needs of hedge and private equity funds (of which it has counted hundreds as clients over the years). The firm has also enjoyed quite a bit of success in its regulatory and compliance, shareholder activism, and litigation practice areas. But make no mistake—the corporate and securities work still drives the firm, which is evident from the many investment banks, hedge and private equity funds, banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, venture capitalists, and pension funds the firm counts among its clients.

Schulte represents a high percentage of the brand names of the fund industry, including private equity firm Cerberus—a client since 1990—and investment firms like Blackstone and Centerbridge. Both Schulte’s New York headquarters and its London office have been recognized for their investment management work. The U.K. office came to be largely due to a sharp uptick in European hedge fund activity, and more recently, the DC office was established to provide litigation and securities regulatory capability.

They’re Listening

Schulte respects its associates’ opinions, and it shows it in a big way—the Associate Committee holds a “listening tour” each year through which committee members speak with each associate in the firm to understand the broad needs of the firm’s talent. The firm also created a new mentoring program—as a result of associate feedback—which allows associates and special counsel to select a network of mentors and a budget for mentoring activities.

• Representing the last three living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The decision to deny efforts to dismiss this claim is the first time in 100 years that a Massacre-related case has made it past a motion to dismiss.
• Represented SurgoCap Partners, a new investment firm founded by Mala Gaonkar, one of the most highly respected women in the industry, on the formation of its first fund.
• Represented Politan Capital against Masimo Corporation regarding Masimo’s adoption of bylaws to restrict board elections. SRZ's actions forced the Board to rescind, preventing the elimination of activism as an asset class.

• Only firm with first-tier rankings for hedge fund practice in the U.S. and U.K. across all major ranking publications—Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Chambers U.K., Chambers Europe, The Legal 500 U.K., and The Legal 500 U.S. 
• Named "Tipping the Scales" firm for partnership diversity—Diversity & Flexibility Alliance
• Multiple “Notable Women in Law” recipients—Crain's New York Business
• Corporate Equality Index 100% score for three consecutive years—Human Rights Campaign
• Ranked one of the most innovative firms in North America and named a Standout in Sustainability—Financial Times Innovative Lawyers North America